Perry strikes blow against pay equity

Updated 4:50 pm, Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Lilly Ledbetter, who was a factory worker, is the name behind the federal "Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act."

Lilly Ledbetter, who was a factory worker, is the name behind the federal "Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act."

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press

Perry strikes blow against pay equity

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Lost in the debate sparked by abortion issues in the special legislative sessions was the fact that Gov. Rick Perry limited the ability of women to win equal pay in court.

Perry recently vetoed HB 950, which would have inserted into state law the protections in the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. But for the veto, Texas would have been the 43rd state to pass such a law, ensuring that the state continues to be a national outlier in all the bad ways.

There was a suggestion that this measure threatened job creation because of regulation and lawsuits. It rings hollow. And the claim that this is unnecessary because women suffering pay discrimination have recourse through the federal courts misses the point.

First, where undue disparities exist in a state, the state has an obligation to make itself available for redress in its courts. This isn't over-regulation; it's localized access to justice.

Second, forcing women into federal court acts as a disincentive to seek remedy. Federal lawsuits can be unwieldy and expensive.

The measure would have allowed women — and others discriminated against on the basis of race, national origin, age, religion or disability — to sue within 180 days of each new discriminatory paycheck, rather than 180 days of the employer setting the pay.

Women have long suffered from pay inequity: 77 cents for every dollar men make nationally, 82 percent of what men are paid in Texas, according to the American Association of University Women. Women disproportionately represented in lower-paying jobs contributes to this, but if there are instances of women paid less for the same work done by a man, there is no good reason to address this only in federal courts.

The GOP-controlled Legislature passed the measure, 79-50 in the House and a 16-15 vote in the Senate, during the regular session. This indicates that, albeit with a narrow vote in the Senate, that a bipartisan purple can occur when red and blue talk. Except, as always, when the governor is involved.

Perry is perhaps mulling another presidential run. Vetoes like this — and unabated fervor in fighting the abortion culture wars — will ensure any next run ends just as the first did.